Axis History Forum

This is an apolitical forum for discussions on the Axis nations and related topics hosted by the Axis History Factbook in cooperation with Christian Ankerstjerne’s Panzerworld and Christoph Awender's WW2 day by day.
Founded in 1999.

great photos trower, do you know if those are before or after the war? i have a book on the siegfried line showing a picture of the line from space and believe it or not you can see the dragons teeth, its pretty wild
wolfpack

wolfpack99 wrote:great photos trower, do you know if those are before or after the war? i have a book on the siegfried line showing a picture of the line from space and believe it or not you can see the dragons teeth, its pretty wildwolfpack

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- The government began tearing down six more bunkers from Hitler's infamous West Wall Thursday against the wishes of some German historians and war veterans who want the remaining concrete and steel fortifications saved as historic memorials.

The leader of the Third Reich built 20,000 bunkers, trenches and tank dugouts along a 940-mile line, also known as the Siegfried Line, stretching along the German border from near Basel, Switzerland to Kleve in northern Germany.

Pneumatic drills pounded away Thursday on the first of six structures to be demolished this winter after the local government in the village of Rheinau, on the French border and 105 miles southwest of Frankfurt, complained the bunkers were a safety hazard. The federal government worried they were potential gathering place for neo-Nazis.

Some historians have argued tearing down the remnants of World War II will not change the facts of history and what is left of the West Wall should be saved as a memorial.

"It is a basic question of how we handle these relics of our history," said Hans-Ulrich Thamer, a history professor at the University of Muenster. "Either you try to preserve it or you just tear it down, but I don't think that is the best way."

Veterans groups complain that destroying the bunkers is disrespectful to the tens of thousands of soldiers who died in the war. Even environmentalists are rushing to defend the hulking emplacements, saying they are a haven for bats and other rodents.

Only half of the original 20,000 bunkers fortifying the West Wall remain. Most of the others were destroyed shortly after the Allies broke through the line in the winter of 1944-45.

Federal authorities have been tearing down the bunkers at a rate of 100 to 200 a year, usually at the request of municipalities or landowners. The government eventually intends to remove all the remaining bunkers, except several hundred individual structures already designated historic monuments and preserved. Opponents of demolition want all that remain to be left.

So intent was Hitler on his western defense that he ordered 500,000 workers to the project and consigned 20 percent of Germany's already scarce building materials for its completion.

Initially, Hitler said he built the West Wall in response to France's fortification, the Maginot Line built along the country's eastern border with Germany.

But some three years later, when Germany sparked the war as it invaded Poland in 1939, the Western Wall's true purpose became clear: a defense against Anglo-French attack while the Wehrmacht was occupied in the east.

The fortifications, trumpeted in songs and war-era stories, soon fed Germans' image of their own invincibility.

In the end, the U.S. Army broke through the Western Wall in the winter of 1944-45, after some pitched battles. Later, the Americans used some of the bunkers as storage facilities.

Rheinau officials asked federal authorities to remove the structures fearing a repeat of an accident in the 1970s, when a 9-year-old girl was killed when she fell on an exposed iron rod near a bunker.

And then there are concerns they could house gatherings of neo-Nazis.

"I don't know of any concrete meetings in the past, but I can imagine that it could happen as it is one of the few remaining relics of the Third Reich," said Andreas Kuebler of the federal Office for Building and Regional Planning, which is tearing down the bunkers.

Of the remaining bunkers and other structures that made up the wall, 6,500 have already been torn down or surrounded by fences to protect the public. Six hundred have been transformed into storage facilities or even museums, such as in Trier and Pirmasens.

Erik
if i were to go to Germany where would a good place to go for relics? a friend of mine was in Germany awile ago and brought back some of Herman Goerings blue pool tiles, and some chunks of ss barracks floor tiles,
wolfpack

I`m no expert in digging up such relics, but I can imagine that you have to get out on the countrysides near the French or Polish borders......

Personally I would suggest to leave these places alone......
Even if there are no unmarked graves, these are places where soldiers payed the highest price of war.

I would rather suggest to go to the occupied countries like Norway. You would be amazed of what turns up here from time to time, even if there were very little fighting. After the German surrender, most of their equipment was spread all over, some was ofcourse destroyed beyong recognition..... A german friend of mine once said that Norway was his "WW2 Mekka" becouse of all the remaining details!